Episode three begins with more Palsian soldiers and noble warriors joining Arislan at Peshawal. Arislan wants to free all the slaves of Palse despite Narsus’s advice that retaking Ekubatana should be the prince’s first priority. While Arislan’s army of 110,000 men prepares to march, the Lusitanians hurry to repair Ekubatana and prepare for Arislan’s attack. King Innokentis II of Lusitania is a sorry excuse for a king, and most of the decisions are made by his younger brother, Prince Giskarl. Another 100,000 Lusitanian soldiers are expected to arrive in Ekubatana. Prince Giskarl also orders the death of the Lusitanian religious leader, Jon Bodan, to prevent any meddling of the prince’s plans to rule Greater Lusitania by himself. Under Prince Giskarl’s orders, Silvermask attacks Castle Zable, killing Jon Bodan’s personal guard but Bodan escapes. Though Silvermask is working for Prince Giskarl, he has plans of his own to complete his revenge against the royal family of Palse. Arislan learns that Silvermask is his cousin Prince Hermes, son of Osiris who was king before Andragoras. Meanwhile, an old acquaintance of Prince Hermes, Princess Ilina of Maryum, is searching for him. While docking at the northern Port of Dairam, her ship is attacked by a Lusitanian batallion. The princess is rescued by former Baron Marshal Kubard, and the mountain bandit Melain. Melain promises to be her guide and help her find Prince Heremes. In May of 321, Arislan leaves Peshawal and marches his army east on the Great Road towards Ekubatana. Through superior military tactics, Arislan’s army takes the first Lusitanian outpost on the Great Road, Castle Chasume.

In Arislan episode three the narrator recaps the story with previous clips
to save time and animation work. However, the narration sounds like a
documentary which is fitting for an epic style series and the "legendary"
aura that surrounds Arislan. The map that Narsus makes for Arislan is
referred to now and then to indicate where everyone is--which is helpful for
those of us with no sense of direction at all. Altogether, the story begins
to take a quicker pace as everyone anticipates the upcoming battle for
Ekubatana. More new characters are introduced in these episodes, such as
Princess Ilina, Jovana, Melain, former Baron Marshal Kubard, General
Clemence, Montferart, Bordoin, Zaravont, Lucian, Tous, and Prince Giskarl.
The introduction of these new characters makes the story more interesting.

The costuming and background art is still beautiful and detailed. The
design of Princess Ilina’s dress and the miniature drawings on the map that
Narsus makes for Arislan deserve separate praise. Time and effort was put
into the ornamentation of the interior of the battered Ekubatana, the
interior of Peshawal, and the interior to Princess Ilina’s ship. In episode
three, most of the action takes place outside and the scenery gets a little
monotonous after a while. But, all of the scenes that take place under the
moon are beautifully colored.

The soundtrack for episode three is much shorter than those of one or two.
Some of the songs are even repeated in different variations. However, there
are many moving melodies on this soundtrack, such as the background music
when Princess Ilina is first introduced. The end title song for both episodes
three and four, "Ryoute-ippai," is beautifully sung by Shoko Suzuki. The
song is accompanied by a display of all the major and minor characters
present in the episode. For hard core Arislan fans though, the credits come
much too early for our tastes. Onward to episode four!- JCF